Lt Gen Mark D. Shackelford Principal Military Deputy to the Asst Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition Air Force Acquisition Challenges.

Lt Gen Mark D. ShackelfordPrincipal Military Deputy to the Asst

Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition

Air Force Acquisition Challenges

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DoD Acquisition Insight DaysAir Force Acquisition Challenges

Lt Gen Mark ShackelfordMilitary Deputy, Office of the Assistant

Secretaryof the Air Force (Acquisition)

22 Apr 09

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The State of Acquisition

President Obama on Presidential helicopter -- ‘‘…I think it is an example of the procurement process gone amok. And we're going to have to fix it.” (24 Feb 09)

Secretary Gates “…we must reform how and what we buy, meaning a fundamental overhaul of our approach to procurement, acquisition, and contracting.” (6 Apr 09)

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on procurement cost overruns -- “We have to make some tough decisions about not only what we procure, but how we procure it.” (24 Feb 09)

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. -- “We are going to do everything we can legislatively to put an end to these horrific cost overruns that we have seen.” (21 Feb 09)

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Progress to Date

SAF/AQ internal assessment and actions (Jul – Dec 08) New training for Source Selection teams New Source Selection governance policies Approved long-term plan to recapitalize acquisition

workforce

SECAF directed, independent assessment by Center for Naval Analyses (CNA)

19 of 24 recommendations are accepted and included in current efforts to improve AF acquisition

The remaining recommendations need further study before we act

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Air Force 2008-2010 Strategic Plan

Reinvigorate AF Nuclear Reinvigorate AF Nuclear EnterpriseEnterprise

Win Today’s FightWin Today’s Fight Develop & Care for Develop & Care for

Airmen & FamiliesAirmen & Families Modernizing Aging Air & Modernizing Aging Air &

Space InventoriesSpace Inventories Recapture Acquisition Recapture Acquisition

ExcellenceExcellence

USAF Flight Path

Recapture Acquisition Excellence: Revitalize the Air Force acquisition

workforce Improve requirements generation

process Instill budget and financial

discipline Improve Air Force major systems

source selections Establish clear lines of authority

and accountability within acquisition organizations

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The State of the Workforce

AF acquisition leadership is under-qualified 40% don’t meet qualifications (Critical Acquisition Positions &

Key Leadership Positions)

Acquisition workforce has slowly atrophied Organic workforce down 23% since 1999

Decreasing government expertise in: Cost estimators, systems engineers & contracting officers

Vacancy rates are approaching 10%

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Revitalize the AF Acq Workforce

Fill the vacancies! Exploit newly delegated expedited hiring authority for civilians Adjust manning priority for civilians and military

Increase & fund authorizations, 2000+ new positions Officers, Enlisted, and Civilians

Increase overall training & recruitment with NDAA 09 Section 852 funds Focused functional training & career path development

Examine and assess the necessary workforce Mix of military, civilian, and contractor support Mix of SES and GO leadership

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The State of Requirements

Requirements unnecessarily complicate effective source selections

Too many KPPs and derived requirements to evaluate No prioritization to support block strategy or tradeoff

decisions Poor or ambiguous definitions Unmeasureable and/or unevaluable requirements

Req’ts don’t support efficient weapon system development Poor process for trading requirements/performance with cost

and schedule KPP definition: Is it a go/no-go or not? Requirements creep over lengthy development phase

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ImproveRequirements Generation

Get the acquisition workforce involved early! Inform users of technical feasibility & testability Insure req’ts are measurable & evaluable in source selection SAE & AFMC/CC certify AF requirements in conjunction with

AFROCC

Require incremental acquisition strategies - Block development

Simplify and minimize KPPs & other requirements

Stop changing requirements during development Freeze program requirements at contract award Changes must be approved by MAJCOM & CSAF

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The State of Budgets & Finance

Too many programs chasing too few dollars

Baselines set too low, resulting in regular Nunn-McCurdy’s

Unstable funding – up/down, faster/slower Programs defined by available budget

Unwilling to terminate programs

Escalating contractor overhead and profit

Decreasing government expertise in: Cost estimating Contractor earned value management

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Budget & Financial Discipline

Set realistic program baselines (cost, schedule & performance) Baseline after PDR Increase cost estimate confidence level

Stabilize program funding Increase SAE influence over program budget adjustments

Assess contractor costs Control rising overhead rates Ensure profits match risk and performance

Get back to Earned Value Management Make sure the contractors provide the data Make sure the government uses it effectively

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High stakes, high visibility game for very few MDAPs Contractors plan their protest in parallel with their proposal

Too many decisions overturned, too many mistakes made GAO overturned KC-X and CSAR-X decisions

Poor understanding of complex process Lack of expertise Inadequate training Too complex – Source selection has evolved and grown

David vs Goliath Contractors spare no expense and hire “Top Guns” to prepare

their proposals and protests Gov’t plays a pick up game

The State of Source Selections

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Improve AF source selection evaluation teams (SSETs) SAE & Chief of Contracting approval of SSET leadership Pick individuals with previous SSET experience Improve training and make it mandatory

Make AF “Top Guns” available Establish cadre of source selection experts Employ new review teams providing extra eyes on the process Provide on-call augmentation

Develop realistic schedules that are event driven

Review and improve early acquisition planning (pre MS-B) Improve RFP generation and source selection completion

Simplify the source selection process

Improve Source Selections

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The State of our Organizations

Wings, Groups & Squadrons Looks like the rest of the AF, but not really Role of Wing Commander is not consistent Decreased functional leadership, leading to decreased

mentoring and functional development/training

PEOs Four PEOs for all AF weapons (plus one PEO for JSF) PEOs dual-hatted as product center commanders

Program Managers Inconsistent level of command (Wing/CC, Group/CC, Sq/CC) No GOs & few SESs, even for MDAPs

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ImproveAcquisition Organizations

Reassess the Wing / Group / Squadron structure Standardize Wing commander role Rename for clarity (i.e. KC-X Group) Resize to fit AF standards for wings, groups & squadrons

Reassess & improve functional leadership Strengthen mentorship Provide training, make it mandatory

Reassess and improve PEO construct More PEOs? Deputy PEOs? Dual-hatted?

Assign 1-star/SES as PEO or Program Directors of highest priority acquisition programs (e.g. KC-X, ECSS & others)

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Where We Want to be…

Our Vision: War-winning capabilities …on time, on cost

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Headquarters U.S. Air Force

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